An Annotated History of Toolbox Interactive for New Employees!
by GeorgiaBoy223
Summary: A history of the critically acclaimed video-game company Toolbox Interactive! Based on "Game Dev Tycoon" by Greenheart Games.
1. Welcome to Toolbox Interactive!

"An Annotated History of Toolbox Interactive for New Employees!"

By GeorgiaBoy223

Disclaimer: "Game Dev Tycoon" is owned by Greenheart Games. "Toolbox Interactive" is a fan-created company in "Game Dev Tycoon." "Jacob Hughes" is a fan-created character in "Game Dev Tycoon."

Further Disclaimers: "Video Killed the Radio Star" is owned by The Buggles. I do not own the cover art. All companies, persons, and products named in this fic, whether from "Game Dev Tycoon" or created for this fic, are fictional. Any similarities in name or purpose to any real-life companies, persons, and products are intended for parody or are otherwise unintentional.

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**WELCOME TO TOOLBOX INTERACTIVE!**

Hello, new employee! We at Toolbox Interactive, Inc., are proud to welcome you to our growing family, from our main office in Atlanta to our original subsidiaries in Vancouver, Hong Kong, Austin, and Copenhagen, to our newly acquired assets in Montreal and Kyoto!

You are now part of a company that is worth more than ten billion dollars in revenue on average per year, and has more than thirty years of best-selling and critically-acclaimed experience in video game development! Starting in our founder and CEO Jacob Hughes' garage back in 1983, to our current corporate headquarters in Green Hearts Technology Park and facilities across the globe, Toolbox Interactive has been on the forefront of providing consumers with high-quality games and gaming consoles with an emphasis on putting gamers first!

Before we get started on orientation however, we encourage all our new family members to take some time learning about our company's expansive history, from Mr. Hughes' original dream to our plans for the future! Mr. Hughes has requested that we include Toolbox Interactive's less distinguished moments in gaming history as a reminder that even greatness experiences road bumps every once in a while; in his own paraphrased words, "Those whom forget the past are doomed to repeat it."

So take a load off, kick up your feet (figuratively, not literally), and start learning!


	2. The End of an Era

**CHAPTER 1**

**THE EARLY YEARS**

**PART 1**

**THE END OF AN ERA**

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Before we begin with the story of Toolbox Interactive's early years, we should first discuss the background of our company's rise to fame.

The 1980s are commonly considered by video game historians to be both the Golden Age and the Dark Age of video games. It was the decade in which video games first truly entered the public consciousness; while the medium had been in existence since the 1950s, it was during the eighties that video games became commonplace in many households in North America, Europe, and Japan. Due to the infamous North American Video Game Crash of 1983, however, it was also the decade that video games came the closest to being erased from the public consciousness, doomed to be another fad that ended as quickly as it had begun.

At the beginning of the decade, the Nevarri 1000 console, made by Nevarri Technologies Company, was the most popular of a variety of consoles available to consumers. In addition to the 1000, there was also the Bailey AstroComp by Bailey Computer Industries, the MagnumBox Ulysses II by MagnumBox Televisions, and the ColourVision by ColourCo Toys Ltd., as well as a small number of other consoles that cannot be mentioned due to the complexity of obtaining permission to use their names in a corporate history work. These consoles are collectively referred to as the second generation of video game consoles, having begun in 1976 with the release of the 1000 itself. The large variety of consoles was a contributing factor to the '83 Crash, but more on that in a minute.

Contrary to popular belief, the Nevarri 1000 was not the first video game console ever made; that distinction belongs to the original MagnumBox Ulysses, which was first released in 1972 and discontinued in 1976. As a fun fact, the Ulysses prototype was given the name "Zeus" by its programmers, but this was thought to be "too egotistical" by MagnumBox executives.

By the beginning of the '80s, the Nevarri 1000 had sold more than five million units; its popularity continued to climb as ports of popular arcade titles such as _Alien Invasion!_ and _Air_ _Ace _were released to both critical and financial success. By the time of the '83 Crash, sales had doubled, and more than ten million units had been sold in the Americas and Western Europe alone. While other consoles of the period did not have anything close to the popularity of the 1000 (the second best-selling console, the ColourVision, sold only four million units across its entire production history), many of the production companies emulated Nevarri's tactics, obtaining the licenses to as many arcade titles as they could, both popular and relatively unknown, in addition to creating several original titles, all of varying quality.

By the beginning of 1982, however, the industry began to show signs of weakening. The large number of consoles on the market, including many clones of more popular consoles, and their equally large individual game libraries, stretched consumer interest thin. As a result, sales of both consoles and games started to decline, beginning with a surprisingly lackluster sales period during the 1981 Christmas season and gradually worsening throughout 1982. Making the situation worse was the rapidly increasing presence of games that were of mediocre or worse quality; console makers were pressuring their in-house development teams and third party developers under contract to make more and more games in less and less time, desperate to gain a sales advantage over competitors.

There were other factors that contributed to the downturn in console gaming in North America. Personal computers such as the American Automated Machine (AAM) Corporation's XYZ Computer and Grapple Inc.'s Model III were becoming less expensive, moving their status as luxury items that only businesspeople would want to own to household brands that most families could afford. Manufacturers cited the versatility of home computers in their advertisements, successfully arguing to consumers that it was pointless to buy a video game console just to play games when a computer could do that and much more.

Nowhere was the superiority of computers over consoles during this period more evident than when Govodore International released its Govodore 64 computer in August 1982. The Govodore 64 was one of the most powerful low-end computers sold at the time, and its advanced capabilities helped it outsell the competition, notably Grapple's Model III and AAM's XYZ Computer. It also quickly outsold the Nevarri 1000 during the Fall 1982 sales period by a margin of three Govodore 64s sold for every one Nevarri 1000. This trend continued after the Crash began; by the end of 1983, Govodore was selling eight computers for every Nevarri console sold.

The Govodore 64 would eventually become one of the most prolific computers in history; for gamers, the G64 also had some of the most influential computer games of the '80s released on it. Mr. Hughes himself has repeatedly stated that the Govodore 64 was one of his most favorite platforms to develop for – and it's not hard to see why, considering most of our company's biggest early successes were released on the G64!

The actions of Nevarri Technologies' CEO and senior officials didn't help matters. After the 1000's considerable rise in popularity in early 1979, the board of directors made a controversial decision to place a wage ceiling on its in-house programmers. While not the worst decision a company's senior officers can make, the wage ceiling was exacerbated by the fact that Nevarri was already underpaying its progammers and denying them royalties on successful titles. Many of these programmers were rightfully angered by this decision, and met with the board of directors, asking that the wage ceiling be removed, their salaries increased, and to receive recognition for their efforts by having credits included in their games, as workers in film, television, and music did.

Nevarri's CEO, according to some of the programmers, laughed them off and told them that "anyone can make a video game". A small group of the programmers, seeing that their negotiations were getting them nowhere, quit early in the summer of 1979. Nevarri's board of directors did not yet worry, however – the 1000 was still doing well and its more well-publicized games were selling many copies. This would not last, however.

The most immediate consequence of Nevarri's actions occurred in early October 1979, when the programmers that left the company, along with some figures from other entertainment industries, formed Active Visionaries, Inc., becoming the first third-party video game publishing company. Active Visionaries began publishing a variety of games for both computers and consoles – including the Nevarri 1000.

Nevarri tried to block Active Visionaries from releasing titles on the 1000, but lost a lawsuit regarding the issue in 1981. The court ruled in favor of Active Visionaries, legitimizing third-party video game development for consoles. While this ruling had the benefit of being one of the building blocks of the modern-day video game industry, this also had the unfortunate side effect of being partially responsible for the glut of low-quality video game releases in 1981 and 1982, severely damaging gaming's reputation as dozens of short-lived startups tried to cash in on the growing industry.

The straw that broke the camel's back, as the saying goes, was the well-known financial and critical failures of two high-profile Nevarri 1000 releases in late 1982: the port of arcade sensation _Dot-Guy_ and the infamous video game adaptation of the blockbuster movie _AL: The Alien Lifeform_. Nevarri produced fifteen million copies of the _Dot-Guy_ port and five million of _AL_, anticipating that most consumers who owned a 1000 at the time (approximately twelve million) would buy the games, and that demand for them would also increase the number of 1000s sold. In addition, Nevarri was planning to coincide the release of _Dot-Guy_ and _AL_ with the release of their new console, the Nevarri 2000; in addition to having improved hardware, the 2000 was also widely advertised as being backwards compatible with most major 1000 games – this, naturally, included _Dot-Guy_ and _AL_. Consumer anticipation was high as Nevarri produced extensive and boisterous ad campaigns for the games; several of these ads proudly proclaimed that "a new era for gaming is here". Many retailers began reserving high quantities of the games, expecting a ripe Christmas sales period.

Finally, the games were released in early November 1982. The reason for the pre-Christmas season sale was because Nevarri believed that critical review and word of mouth would cause demand for the games to skyrocket in time for the Christmas season. Initially, events progressed as Nevarri's executives expected, with both games selling more than a million copies each on launch day. Within a week, the _Dot-Guy_ port sold more than four million total copies and _AL_ sold more than one million and five hundred thousand total copies. The Nevarri 1000 also sold more than five hundred thousand units, and the 2000 sold roughly the same number.

Everything came to a quick end, though, when both critical review and consumer feedback on both games became widespread. Critics and gamers alike derided both games: _Dot-Guy_ was stated to share very little with its arcade roots, and that _AL_ was the worst game they had ever played. In _Dot-Guy_'s case, this was because the aging hardware on the 1000 prohibited programmers from fully integrating the complete arcade experience into the game; in _AL_'s case, Nevarri gave its programmers and designers only six weeks to work on the game, leaving it with many game-breaking bugs and rather poor gameplay. Additionally, both games were reported by many gamers to be completely incompatible with the Nevarri 2000, discrediting one important selling point.

The fallout was severe. While _Dot-Guy_ continued to sell well for a short time, eventually becoming the best-selling Nevarri 1000 game of all time with approximately seven million copies sold, by the end of the 1982 Christmas season, consumer interest had fallen severely as more and more gamers made it clear that the port was a major disappointment; the game also sold far below Nevarri's expectations, leaving almost eight million copies unsold. It was worse with _AL_; whereas _Dot-Guy_ was capable of being entertaining for a short time, _AL_ was derided as "completely unplayable" by many critics and gamers. The movie tie-in didn't sell well during the Christmas season; the game ultimately sold only two million copies over its short-lived distribution period. The financial failure of _AL_ was worsened by the extremely high production cost of the game, including the high cost of the game's license; Nevarri ultimately lost almost one hundred million dollars on _AL_.

The most tragic part of the whole debacle was arguably the failure of the Nevarri 2000. While the 2000 was in fact incapable of playing _Dot-Guy_ and _AL_, this wasn't a fault of its hardware but was due to the subpar programming of both games; the console was able to play the other 1000 games it was compatible with flawlessly. Many games that were later released for it were praised by both critics and gamers, including a surprisingly good port of _Dot-Girl_; unfortunately, most of these games were financial failures. The Nevarri 2000 struggled to sell, but due to the Crash, it failed to sell any more than one million and five hundred thousand units by the time it was quietly pulled from distribution in the spring of 1984.

Thus began the North American Video Game Crash of 1983, spreading throughout the entire console game market on the continent. Many American and Canadian consumers were now wary of spending money on products that could be faulty or unworkable, leaving many retailers with a surplus of unsold consoles and game cartridges. These retailers then attempted to return the consoles and games to publishers, only to learn that they couldn't take back all of the products or financially reimburse the retailers. Several games and consoles then saw their prices sharply reduced; games that originally retailed for thirty-five or forty dollars were placed in discount bins for as little as five.

Many video game companies either went bankrupt or withdrew from the industry entirely. Among the companies that were forced to close their doors were Bailey Computer Industries and Americana Games. Companies such as MagnumBox Televisions and ColourCo Toys, on the other hand, did not stake too much of their fortunes on video games and were able to leave the industry relatively unscathed; today, MagnumBox is a subsidiary of Philippe Electronics Corporation and retains its brand name on several television models sold in America and Canada, and ColourCo Toys is still doing well as a manufacturer of children's toys, with strong customer bases in its native U.K. and Western Europe. Active Visionaries survived the Crash because it did not focus on making games exclusively for consoles and had a strong customer base for its PC games; it would go on to be one of the most powerful gaming companies in the world.

Nevarri Technologies, meanwhile, would struggle for years to stay in business. The company would eventually bury several copies of its unsold games in a landfill near Las Cruces, New Mexico. It would continue to sell its 1000 console and what few games that were developed for it for a short time, until Ninvento released the Tiger Entertainment System (commonly abbreviated as "TES") to Western markets in 1985. After encountering some difficulty with sales due to lingering doubts from the Crash, the TES exploded in popularity in late 1986, leaving the few remaining consoles sold in North America in the dust, including the 1000. With its revenue almost nonexistent, Nevarri quietly removed the 1000 from distribution in October 1987 and subsequently declared bankruptcy, bringing a sad end to an era of gaming. By the end of its distribution period, more than eighteen million Nevarri 1000 consoles were sold. Today, the Nevarri brand name is owned by InfroGames Entertainment.

Thus is the history of the infamous North American Video Game Crash of 1983, which almost brought an end to console gaming. It was during this time that, despite all odds, Jacob Hughes founded Toolbox Interactive, Inc., and turned it into a major player in the video game industry.

Please proceed to Chapter 1, Part 2: "Video Killed the Radio Star".

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Author's Note: To those of you who have read the introduction chapter of this story, I am sorry for the long wait. I was finishing work on my first fanfic, and have been busy with work and college in the meantime. I've also made some changes to the introduction chapter; I've changed the location of Toolbox Interactive's corporate headquarters from Richmond to Atlanta, added Austin, Texas, as the location of a subsidiary, and I've upped the company's revenue considerably, to better reflect a video game company that's been very successful.

Also, most of this chapter was adapted from various articles on Wikipedia. Here are the articles:

wiki/North_American_video_game_crash_of_1983

wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial_(video_game)

wiki/Atari_2600

wiki/Pac-Man_(Atari_2600)

wiki/Activision


	3. Video Killed the Radio Star

**Chapter 1**

**THE EARLY YEARS**

**Part 2**

**VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR**

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NOTE: At his request, for the rest of this work, references made to Mr. Hughes during the period prior to Toolbox Interactive, Inc.'s founding will use his first name of Jacob; references made afterwards will use "Mr. Hughes" out of respect.

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Jacob Hughes was born in Bethesda, Maryland, on July 21st, 1956, to Connor and Julia Hughes. Connor was, at the time, a lieutenant in the United States Navy, having worked his way up to that rank since his enlistment at the age of eighteen in 1944, and was stationed at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station. Julia, born Julia Schmidt in 1930, was working at the time as a secretary at a law firm in Leonardtown, Maryland, which is near the NAS. The Hughes family had lived in Leonardtown ever since Connor was transferred to the NAS in 1954; he had suffered a leg injury in the Korean War when the ship he was stationed on suffered enemy attack. The injury was not severe enough for him to be medically discharged, but he was declared unfit for combat duty by his doctors and given administrative duties at various naval bases in the States, eventually being transferred to Patuxent River.

Jacob lived in Leonardtown with his family until early April of 1960, when his father was given an honorable discharge after sixteen years of service. Connor had been experiencing worsening pain with his leg injury, which never fully recovered, hampering his ability to do his work at Patuxent River. He had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander in 1958, a year before his injury began to flare up.

Connor moved the family to Julia's hometown of Marietta, Georgia immediately after his discharge. At the time, he had an estranged relationship with his parents in Richmond, Virginia over matters that Mr. Hughes is not comfortable disclosing. They eventually fixed their broken relationship in 1971, whereupon Jacob and his parents resumed regular contact with his paternal grandparents until their deaths in 1975. After moving, Connor became employed as an accountant at a local bank and Julia became employed again as a secretary, this time at a local radio station. Jacob was enrolled in the Marietta City Schools system; he excelled in language arts and mathematics throughout his school years, while making above average grades in science and social studies.

Jacob graduated in 1974; immediately thereafter, he enrolled at Kennesaw Junior College, taking an associate's degree course in mathematics. Before graduating from high school, he was first introduced to computers when the school board bought a pair of AAM computers for faculty and limited student use in 1971. While primitive and bulky compared to modern computers, Jacob was nonetheless fascinated by the machines. He was informed by a teacher that to become involved in the fledgling computer industry, one had to be good at mathematics; while already doing very well in that field of study, he decided he needed to do better.

Jacob's college years were marred by the deaths of his paternal grandparents, Arnold and Patricia Hughes, in a car accident. His father Connor, who had only repaired his broken relationship with his parents just four years prior, fell into a period of severe depression. His melancholy was alleviated when Mr. Hughes began experiencing greater success with the early Toolbox Interactive, but like with his leg injury, Connor never fully recovered.

Jacob graduated in 1976 with honors; that same year, Kennesaw Junior College was renamed to Kennesaw College, becoming a four-year college in the process. Jacob, however, decided to not pursue further studies for the time being, and enlisted shortly thereafter in the United States Air Force. It would not be until 1996 before he returned to the college, when it changed its name a final time to Kennesaw State University.

Completing basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in the standard time after enlisting, Jacob was given screening for advanced technical training. Given his proficiency in mathematics, it was no surprise that he was given training as a computer technician at Keesler Air Force Base. Mr. Hughes has admitted that one of the reasons that he enlisted was because he wanted to receive more advanced education with computer technologies than most institutions were providing at the time – a goal which, obviously, he accomplished. After completing training at Keesler, Jacob was assigned to the 374th Airlift Wing, Fifth Air Force, and sent to the 5 AF's headquarters base of Yokota Air Base in Japan.

Several things happened to Mr. Hughes while he was in Japan that would become significant later on in both his professional and personal lives.

The first, and arguably the most important, was his first encounter with video games. At his barracks at Yokota AB, there was a single Philippe television bought by an airman in late 1976, not long before Jacob arrived on base, and left as a "gift" when the airman was transferred to Ramstein Air Base in Germany due to concerns about tensions between him and another airman; according to Mr. Hughes, the airman was disinterested in taking the TV with him, as he was "rich enough" to purchase another one. In 1977, another airman bought a brand new Nevarri 1000 and connected it to the television, and was given permission to charge airmen and soldiers for time to play it. Mr. Hughes has stated that he only got to play on the 1000 around a dozen times before the airman left the Air Force in the summer of 1978 and took the console with him, and that he treasured every minute he was allowed to play on it, becoming enchanted by the concept of interactive entertainment.

The second was his exposure to the blossoming Japanese video game arcade industry. While the entrepreneurial airman's 1000 had the benefit of immediate convenience, there was still far less to do on leave at Yokota AB and its host city of Fussa than in the rest of the Tokyo metropolitan area, which Fussa is a part of. Nightclubs, live sports games, shopping malls, and video game arcades were all very popular destinations for American airmen and soldiers from Yokota AB, regardless of the language barrier that the servicemen and servicewomen encountered in the Japanese capital. Even while the airman and his 1000 were at the base, Jacob spent a quarter of his leave time at several arcades in Tokyo. While fascinated by the 1000, Jacob was surprised to discover that several of the games he played at arcades already had better graphics and gameplay than most of the games for the console. Jacob saw potential for the improvement of home consoles and computer games; he had originally planned to eventually become a computer hardware engineer after leaving the Air Force, but his experiences with video games in Japan put him on the path to video game development.

Third, Mr. Hughes became fascinated with Japanese culture and pop culture during his service. It should be noted that Jacob did not have an unhealthy obsession with video games, and spent most of his leave time on various other past times that an off-duty serviceman would participate in. In addition to the events and locations listed in the previous paragraph, he also attended kabuki theater, tea ceremonies, geisha dances, and street festivals. He also attended a Tanabata festival in 1978. He was also part of a group of airmen that translated some popular manga of the time for those stationed at Yokota. Jacob grew to admire the Japanese sense of honor and strong work ethic, seeing both as excellent concepts that many people would do well to adopt. He also believed that there were aspects of Japanese culture that were less than admirable, however, such as the treatment of women at the time, and the more stringent guidelines of Japanese honor.

Finally, during his service in Japan, Mr. Hughes developed an attraction to Asian women. While not the first time he interacted with Asian people, it was during his stay in Japan that Jacob discovered, through his interactions with the local population, that he found Asian women to be especially beautiful and charming. This attraction, among several other significant factors, would eventually result in his marriage to Jennifer Himura, now Jennifer Hughes, one of the earliest employees of Toolbox Interactive and the current head of the Engine Development and Stabilization Department at our Atlanta headquarters. From their happy marriage, they have given the world two beautiful daughters: Amelia Ayaka Hughes, currently training to be an officer in the United States Army, and Sarah Natsumi Hughes, currently studying animation at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia.

Jacob received an honorable discharge from the United States Air Force in 1980 after a four-year service term, having progressed to the rank of technical sergeant during that time. After leaving the armed forces, Jacob became employed by Donahue &amp; Riley Electronic Services, a fledgling IT firm owned by partners William Donahue and Gordon Riley, in Atlanta. He worked there for two years, doing work for various local businesses and expanding his knowledge of computer systems. He also bought his own Nevarri 1000 during this time, acting on nostalgia for his years at Yokota AB; he quickly became dismayed that very little had changed about the 1000 and the games programmed for it since 1978, while the video arcade and computer industries were making greater and greater strides in technological development each year.

Jacob's employment with Donahue &amp; Riley came to an end on September 18, 1982, the day that the company closed after Gordon Riley died of a heart attack earlier that year on June 28. At Riley's funeral service on July 2, William Donahue announced that the company would be ceasing operations after completing all of its current short-term contracts and making arrangements with its long-term contract holders to transfer their contracts to other firms. After having his employment with Donahue &amp; Riley terminated, Jacob decided that he wanted to work in the video game industry. At the time, however, there were no companies for developing or publishing video games located in Atlanta, and moving to another city with companies in it would have been expensive.

Thus, Mr. Hughes made the pivotal decision to start his own video game development company.

Mr. Hughes originally wanted to name the company he planned to open "Toolbox Games"; however, a family friend who worked at the New York Stock Exchange encouraged him to give the company a different name, as companies that had the word "games" in them were seeing the value of their stocks fall lower and lower, leading him to correctly believe that a recession in the industry would begin soon. He advised him to take a name such as "Toolbox Entertainment" or "Toolbox Interactive" to help moderate consumer skepticism towards the new company. Obviously, Mr. Hughes chose the latter option.

"Toolbox Interactive, Inc." was officially registered as a business in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 9, 1982, but did not begin business until February 3, 1983. Mr. Hughes designated his home as the location of the business, not having the money to afford an office space at the time. In addition to being the owner, he would also be the only employee of Toolbox for several years; it would be until August 1989, when he moved the company to a nearby office building, that Mr. Hughes began hiring employees.

Mr. Hughes did not immediately begin Toolbox Interactive's business because of Nevarri's _Dot-Guy_ and _AL_ fiascoes, which caused him to believe that the market would be difficult for new companies to enter. In the interim, he took a loan to purchase a new computer with hardware powerful enough to develop video games. He also decided during this time to develop for PCs instead of consoles, as he believed that the console game market would never be as good as it once was, and because computer hardware was more flexible to develop games for. Finally, he made a contract with the Quentin Video Services Company, a local video cassette and diskette production company, to publish and distribute his games for a percentage of the profits.

At long last, on February 3, 1983, Mr. Hughes set up his new, state of the art computer on a table in his garage, which would serve as Toolbox Interactive's first business office. The next day, February 4, he began work on our company's very first video game: _The Knights of Camelot_.

Please proceed to Chapter 1, Part 3: "An Uphill Climb."

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Author's Note: This fic will not follow the gameplay of "Game Dev Tycoon" strictly to the letter. Certain elements will be altered to make this fic slightly more realistic.


	4. An Uphill Climb

**Chapter 1**

**THE EARLY YEARS**

**Part 3**

**An Uphill Climb**

Mr. Hughes sat down at his work desk on February 4, 1983, with one goal in mind: to produce the best possible video games that would appeal to the most possible consumers. Thus, he began work on _The Knights of Camelot_, the very first game developed and published by Toolbox Interactive.

Mr. Hughes programmed the game to be playable on popular AAM computer models of the time, as well as other computers that were compatible with AAM software. Originally, Mr. Hughes wanted to program the game for the Govodore 64 and its predecessor, the MIC-10, but Govodore charged a higher price for developing software for its computers than other manufacturers – a deterrent for keeping poor-quality programs off of its hardware.

Obviously, Mr. Hughes did not have the money to pay the fees for Govodore's systems, so he settled on the cheaper AAM and AAM-derivative platforms. In addition, he could not afford to submit his games for critical review, or pay the fees for Quentin Video Services to produce and distribute the games in areas beyond the American Southeast, so he focused on having his games sold at computer hobbyist shops in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area and other major Southern cities, such as Raleigh, Birmingham, and Savannah.

After eleven weeks of work, _The Knights of Camelot_ was released on April 22, 1983. The plot of the game centered around finding the Holy Grail for King Arthur, who had been inflicted with a mysterious illness by an evil alchemist. The goal of players was to find the Grail and fill it with holy water blessed by the bishop of Arthur's castle, then bring it back to King Arthur so he could drink from the Grail and be cured of his illness. Players were able to command a small group of Knights of the Round Table, the knights being Sir Lancelot, Sir Bedivere, Sir Claudin, and Sir Erec, in their journey to and from the Grail's location.

The gameplay of _The Knights of Camelot_ consisted of fighting enemy knights, evil wizards, barghests, and gargoyles, with more powerful versions of those enemies serving as bosses at the end of individual sections of the game, and a dragon serving as the final boss of the game. Players were able to switch between using a sword to attack enemies and using a shield to defend the knights. Only one knight was usable at a time, whom could be switched with another knight at campsites that served as checkpoints (as this was before Mr. Hughes began using save game states as gamers know them today, however, players' progress was reset to the beginning at game startup), or if he was killed by enemies, at which point the knight was permanently removed from the game state in progress. The knights could have their damage healed by drinking the holy water, both before and after retrieving the Holy Grail, but drinking too much of the holy water would leave an insufficient amount to heal King Arthur, which would fail the game.

_The Knights of Camelot_ was met with positive reception from computer gamers from across Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and the Carolinas. Many players praised the game's enjoyable gameplay to their friends and to the retailers they bought their copy from, the latter of which quoted their satisfied customers' statements in in-store sales pitches. The game ultimately sold almost nineteen thousand copies, earning Toolbox Interactive more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars – a pitiably small amount by today's standards, but a significant success for a company just starting out in the early 80s. The game is currently available on Grid, Toolbox's digital distribution, multimedia, and multiplayer platform for PCs and Toolbox's proprietary Horizon and Horizon 2 consoles, for five United States dollars, as well as being a complimentary free download for all members that joined the service prior to November 2, 2009.

Emboldened by his success with _The Knights of Camelot_, Mr. Hughes immediately began work on _Cannon Duel!_, the second game released by Toolbox Interactive. One of several "artillery games" that was released in the early 80s, _Cannon Duel!'s_ gameplay was much the same as many of its counterparts, consisting of players controlling a single artillery unit in turn-based combat against a computer-controlled enemy artillery unit. Using the cannon involved inputting firing coordinates into an on-screen command box. The game had individual levels that took place in a variety of locations, such as a desert, a jungle, and a city.

_Cannon Duel!_ was released on June 17, 1983. The game was not given the same positive reception that _The Knights of Camelot_ had, with general criticism concerning its "uninspired" gameplay. Players were not impressed by its simplistic nature compared to _The Knights of Camelot_, but some did concede that it did have relatively interesting visuals. Nonetheless, many gamers who owned a copy of both _The Knights of Camelot_ and _Cannon Duel!_ made it clear that they thought that Toolbox didn't put as much effort as they put in the former into the latter.

_Cannon Duel!_ sold slightly over eleven thousand copies and barely managed to earn Toolbox Interactive a hundred thousand dollars. It is not available for retail on Grid or any other legitimate modern digital platform, due to Mr. Hughes' refusal to release the program after its original distribution. He has said he is "embarrassed" by the game and prefers to discuss as little about it as possible.

Mr. Hughes was left depressed by the lackluster performance of _Cannon Duel!_. In his self-admitted hubris, he believed that several gamers would buy _Cannon Duel!_ regardless of its quality – an attitude that was dangerously reminiscent of many Nevarri executives' impressions about _Dot-Guy_ and _AL_. Taking a month off from developing video games, Mr. Hughes took the time to rethink his work ethic and integrity. Recalling his admiration for the Japanese work ethic, Mr. Hughes swore he would never take the people who enjoyed his games for granted ever again.

Mr. Hughes also took advantage of the time he took off to brainstorm game ideas, as well as take some time to a play a small selection of recently purchased computer games. One of the games he played was the critically-acclaimed _Ultra II: The Warlock's Vendetta_, a groundbreaking computer roleplaying game created by renowned video game designer Richard Chariott and part of the expansive _Ultra_ franchise, currently owned by Electronic Mass Productions. Influenced by _Ultra II_, Mr. Hughes wanted to eventually remake _The Knights of Camelot_ as a roleplaying game and update its graphics and gameplay. However, the hardware of the AAM PCs he was developing for was too limited for what he envisioned; this made him more determined than ever to eventually obtain a license to develop games for the Govodore 64.

Returning to work on July 27, Mr. Hughes began developing _Adventures on the High Seas!_, Toolbox's third released game. _Adventures on the High Seas!_ put players in the boots of a pirate captain during the Golden Age of Piracy, with the objective of becoming the most famous pirate in the Caribbean. Players start the game in the port of Havana, having just obtained ownership of a schooner and also having hired a crew. Players were then given the opportunity to name their ship; the player character wasn't given the ability to be named, however, being simply referred to as "Captain" throughout the game.

Gameplay consisted of sailing the expanse of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, searching for ships to attack and plunder. Ships that could be attacked varied between civilian schooners that were easy to attack but contained few valuables, other pirate ships that were more heavily armed but also carried more goods to steal, and frigates belonging to the "Royal Navy" of an unnamed country, which contained the highest amount of valuables but were the most difficult to attack. Valuables that were claimed by players could then be taken to a small number of ports and sold for supplies and upgrades, including new cannons, food, medical supplies and even buying new ships. The game officially ends after five Royal Navy ships or fifteen pirate ships have been defeated, at which point the player is immediately sent back to Havana, where the governor declares them to be "The King of the High Seas." After this, however, players were allowed to continue playing as long as they wanted until they turned the game off.

_Adventures on the High Seas!_ was released on October 3, 1983. The game was met with very positive reception from gamers, especially compared to _Cannon Duel!_. Many players considered its gameplay basic but enjoyable, and considered the visual design to be excellent for a game made for AAM platforms. Due to the lukewarm reception of _Cannon Duel!_, however, and also due to the '83 Crash being at its height, _Adventures_ did not sell as well as _The Knights of Camelot_, but still was more successful than the previous game, selling more than sixteen thousand copies and earning almost one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Like _The Knights of Camelot_, _Adventures on the High Seas!_ is available on Grid for PCs and both Horizon consoles for five dollars, and is a complimentary free download for members who joined prior to November 2, 2009.

Two week after the release of _Adventures_, Mr. Hughes received a letter from Jason Paul, a manager at Georgia Contracting Services, LLC, a local contracting company. Mr. Paul had bought a copy of _Adventures on the High Seas!_ and greatly enjoyed the game, recognizing that Mr. Hughes's talent could extend beyond developing video games. He offered to provide Mr. Hughes with occasional contract work to supplement his income, and Toolbox Interactive's income by extension. Mr. Hughes accepted the offer, and Toolbox Interactive, Inc., and Georgia Contracting Services, LLC, which Mr. Paul is now vice president of, have maintained a mutually beneficial relationship since then.

For a few weeks, Mr. Hughes put any further development of video games on hold while he worked on a few contracts at a slightly lower rate than what Mr. Paul offered him, out of thanks for giving him the opportunity to improve Toolbox Interactive's finances. Among the contracts he performed included playtesting a game for Active Visionaries, and helping develop an improved inventory software for the Cobb County Public Library System. By the time he finished his work shortly before Thanksgiving, he had earned thirty-five thousand dollars for Toolbox Interactive. His work on the library software also influenced him to eventually begin work on Gear, Toolbox Interactive's first independently-developed video game software engine, which was also one of the very first software engines designed specifically for developing games; he realized that the base software available on his computer wasn't powerful enough for the games he had planned for development on the G64. To be able to develop these games to the fullest extent of his ambitions, he had to utilize the hardware he had available on his computer to its limits and create his own custom programming and design software.

Still, Mr. Hughes believed he was not yet ready to develop an engine. He had plans to negotiate a larger production and distribution contract with Quentin Video Services, which would give him a wider customer base across the east coast of the United States. He also needed to purchase computer hardware to replace some of his current equipment; while his computer was state-of-the-art, the retail-configured hardware was not suited for the modifications necessary for developing a custom-built game programming software. He also planned to begin submitting his work for critical review, hoping that having his work appraised by critics would be a better way for Toolbox to sell more copies of its games than by word of mouth. Finally, Mr. Hughes planned to hire a law firm to handle much of Toolbox Interactive's legal work for him, freeing up more of his time to work on our company's products.

To do all this, though, he needed more money to afford everything he had planned, and to still leave Toolbox Interactive enough money to keep it operational and as far away from potential bankruptcy. Thus, on January 4, 1984, Mr. Hughes began work on _The Silver Knights_, Toolbox Interactive's fourth game and its first roleplaying game, to earn the money necessary for his planned projects, as well as to function as an unofficial prototype of the _Knights of Camelot_ remake and an experiment to see if he could develop quality RPG titles.

_The Silver Knights_ is set in the fictional world of Fulcrum, on the continent of Avalon, a fertile region which encompasses the kingdoms of Cornucopia and Harvest, as well as more than a dozen different fiefdoms that pledged their loyalty to one nation or the other. The two kingdoms had coexisted peacefully and prosperously for almost five hundred years after the death of the dark wizard Malefactor, who had waged a bloody ten year campaign with his undead army to conquer the continent until his defeat at the hands of the legendary Three Heroes: a dwarf warrior, an elf mage, and a human rogue. The Three Heroes destroyed Malefactor in both his physical and corporeal forms, banishing him to the Plain of the Forgotten, a realm of the underworld where the most evil beings forget who they were in life, doomed to wander the featureless void with the agony of never knowing their identity. For their role in Malefactor's defeat, the Three Heroes were christened "The Silver Knights" by the rulers of the two kingdoms, although they became more known by their folk names as the years moved on.

However, shortly prior to the beginning of the game, a small Malefactor-worshipping cult in Harvest managed to resurrect their dark lord, who rewarded them by killing them all, driven into a crazed rage by the return of his memories. After that, he used dark magic to bind the cultists' souls to cursed armor he crafted from their bones, making them his lieutenants in the undead army he would rebuild for his second campaign to conquer Avalon. Harvest and several of its vassals fell within a year, and Malefactor turned his ambitions towards Cornucopia.

After three years of losing more and more ground to Malefactor's army, Queen Benevolent, the wise ruler of Cornucopia, reluctantly resurrected the Three Heroes with the same technique that the cultists used to resurrect Malefactor, using her life as the power to bring them back to life. After being informed by her grieving daughter, Princess Rose, of the situation, the Three Heroes set out to defeat Malefactor and his dark legion, bringing peace back to Avalon.

The gameplay of _The Silver Knights_ is slightly more complex than _The Knights of Camelot_. Players travel from the outer edges of Cornucopia's capital, which are serving as the frontlines of the war, to Malefactor's fortress deep within Harvest, fighting against the lieutenants and the lesser soldiers of Malefactor's army, as well as against monsters that roam the countryside, and bandits that take advantage of the chaos to prey upon refugees. Combat against encountered enemies is turn-based, with the warrior and rogue able to target three different areas of enemies to attack, and the mage able to use three different spells. The final battle against Malefactor is the only time players are able to use all three characters at once.

_The Silver Knights_ retains _The Knights of Camelot's_ feature of switching between different characters at campsites, and expands upon it so that each character is needed to accomplish certain tasks. The warrior is the strongest of the party, using a longsword to fight enemies, followed by the mage, who uses spells, with the rogue being the weakest, using a bow to fight enemies from afar. The warrior can fight stronger monsters and destroy barricades, the wizard can fight phantoms and dispel Malefactor's Nodes of Power, and the rogue can pick locks on doors and treasure chests and find hidden items. Visiting campsites also completely restores health for the character being switched out. The aforementioned Nodes of Power serve as magical conduits for Malefactor, distributing power to his army; destroying the Nodes makes the undead enemies in the region weaker, making survivability while playing as the mage and the rogue better.

_The Silver Knights_ was released on March 26, 1984, to widespread acclaim from gamers. The game was praised for its engaging gameplay and excellent narrative; the former was especially lauded for challenging gamers to think about how they wanted to approach each area they visited. Even though Mr. Hughes didn't submit _The Silver Knights_ for critical review, various local newspapers around Atlanta, Savannah, Birmingham, and St. Petersburg featured the game as the main article for their media sections, with all writers strongly recommending that gamers purchase the game. _The Silver Knights_ sold approximately twenty-six thousand copies, earning almost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and becoming Toolbox Interactive's best-selling game yet released. It is available on Grid for all platforms for five dollars.

The fame and success of_ The Silver Knights_ extended beyond what Mr. Hughes expected of it. Early in the game's distribution, several businesses in New England, having heard of its success, placed special orders with Quentin Video Services for copies of the game; more than five thousand copies were sold in shops across the American Northeast. The success of the game brought the attention of the mainstream gaming community on Toolbox Interactive for the first time. A small number of critical reviews that took place a few years after the game's initial release were very positive; the review by Game Hero's Ed Harriett noted the game's excellent gameplay and well-written narrative for its time, and for its role in establishing Toolbox's reputation for making high-quality titles. Retrospective critical review has also been positive – _The Silver Knights_ was ranked number five in Informed Gamer's "Top 10 Underrated Classics of the 80s", and was given the same position in the Global Gaming News Network's (GGNN) "Top 10 80s Games That Deserves A Reboot Or A Remake".

With the success of _The Silver Knights_, Mr. Hughes finally had the money and public exposure he needed to act on his plans. He acquired the services of Frederick, Stahlberg and Co., LLC as Toolbox's official law firm, who successfully renegotiated Toolbox's contract with Quentin Video Services; after Mr. Hughes paid the necessary adjustment fees, Quentin Video Services extended the sale of all Toolbox games throughout their eastern United States distribution area. He then purchased a number of hardware components he needed to create the development software he had envisioned, including a more powerful graphics processing unit to handle the design of games for the Govodore 64.

For four months, Mr. Hughes put all other tasks aside as he worked on his new development software, giving it the name "Gear" to match the construction-based nature of Toolbox's name. Gear's programming allowed for the creating of more advanced 8-bit graphics, as well as improved audio functionality, allowing for monosyllabic sounds and basic soundtracks to be implemented in Toolbox's games. He also included programming for improved save states, allowing for players to be able to resume their progress at game startup if they quit the game before finishing it. Having noted that some gamers were bringing up concerns that it was difficult to master the controls and gameplay of games being developed at the time without an in-game learning tool, Mr. Hughes also decided that Toolbox Interactive would adopt the increasingly popular practice of including tutorial sections in its future games.

At long last, on August 18, 1984, Mr. Hughes finished work on Gear, and immediately began work on the remake of _The Knights of Camelot_ and Toolbox's first game for the Govodore 64: _The Quest for the Holy Grail_.

Please proceed to Chapter 1, Part 4: "Claim to Fame."


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